Thu Jul 13 15:11:13 2017

At 8 o'clock PM, Day of Deception, 30th of the Month of Futility
on the Theran calendar Esheneshra perished, never to return.

Race:	half-drow
Class:	shapeshifter
Level:	43
Alignment:	Evil
Ethos:	Neutral
Cabal:	None, None
Age:	48
Hours:	42

Way to delete over the best pk form while being upset you couldn't roll for the worst pk forms. You might be able to see your enemy but your murder lag/bite lag/peck lag is two rounds and they will always get away from you unless they're prepared and they annihilate you.

Deleted due to getting the falcon and needing owl/bat to actually be able to see and fight people. Rolling bones is rather unrealistic as it needs multiple EP sources, of which only one (hero) is player-controlled and not sufficient to take. A few other shifter gripes:

1) Movement cost on air forms makes it impossible to hunt on lower levels. Even getting from Seantryn to Galadon is a struggle. Spirit of Thunderhawk helps a small bit, but not nearly enough.

2) Shift delay on any physical malady makes it very hard/annoying to fight certain builds/mobs.

3) Third-tier offensive forms are not that offensive. Add to that their horrible dodge and lack of anything useful they can do.

4) Mana upkeep cost for a minor focus form are fairly horrendous.

5) There is a vast gap of nothingness where you have to survive/get by with third-tier forms from 30 to 42. They may be somewhat adequate (if nothing special) at 30, but rather underpowered by 35 and really bad at 42 (and you can still have them until 44).

6) Control X skills are only available in the late 30's and fail horribly until at least 90%

The combination of those factors means that any shifter activity but leveling pre-hero ranks is just a waste of time and the reason you see all shifters trying to power to hero and do nothing else.

I totally understand wanting certain forms for your char. You can play two shifters with the same foci and one will suck and one will rock based on your forms. When you see a shifter with really good forms that is strong, chances are they have hero'd and deleted 4 chars to get those forms, which is kinda sad considering that even the good combos aren't THAT powerful.

When I play a shifter, I don't make plans to be involved in PK pre-hero. Sometimes, depending on form/focus/opponent, you may be able to attack someone, but don't count on it. Shifters are very weak at lower levels against most classes.

As far as maldadicts, it's very easy for many classes to nerf shifters out of a fight. As an assassin, you can lag shifting and render a flying top tier form useless for chasing with one skill afaik because of flyto/peck/murder lag. This is probably true for most melee builds as well.

As far as falcon...I'd much rather have that then a bat. There's a two round lag on bite (which is very weak), so while you can see hidden at night, I don't see you posing much of a threat as they can flee everytime they get bitten for a (maul?) and you will run out of mv/mana before they run out of hp. If you do happen to have an air form that sees hidden and poses a threat, your foes will sit in their guild/cabal at night.

He might finally roll that shifter who PWNS people at low ranks he's been promising.

FWIW I agree with nearly everything you posted. NEARLY everything is the key part (2nd p 1st s meh)

I was speaking for myself. I like a challenge and like to go after the hard to kill. Sure, you can PK at lower ranks, but you'll likely be taking out the low hanging fruit, which I do not enjoy.

PK count matters much less to me than having names like Antone, Malchazzar, Oxias, Tigga, etc. on the PK wins list.

Just saying that you CAN kill some mid-range "tough" guys at the low ranks with a shifter if you got 100% wand skill + wands that do CAPS damage and any lag protection.

That being said, it's way harder to do than any other mage at those ranks.

The nerf re: mal/movement with shifters absolutely ruined trying to PK with a lower tier form. Ruined. At low levels it's nigh impossible to carry a set of gear that can cover mals and aid with health + mana unless you're a god damn vulture.

Huh. That's like the guy who deleted when he got Lion Porcupine all those years back because he didn't get a regen form.

I had falcon before and it's absolutely frustrating not seeing hiders. The current crop of hero range as well as the upcoming growth makes owl/bat essential on any serious PK-oriented char.

Falcon being one of the most badass PK flying form.

Like I said, I've had falcon before and while it's a pretty good form and can flyto inside many places, with the current limitations of shifters in general and half the hero range (especially upcoming one) being hiders/outlanders in particular, anything but owl/bat is fairly useless. It was frustrating as hell to have a falcon two-three years ago and I had no desire of a repeat experience.

They don't shapeshift, they see hidden, they're badass.

(Yes, I'm picky) :)
Anyhow, had a hope and an idea of a build in my head that didn't pan out - am not blaming anyone or anything, just didn't want to play something that would frustrate me again.